REGIONALREPORTCharlotte

Charlotte airport wants its place in the sun

Things have been cloudy at Charlotte Douglas International Airport lately, with state and city officials fighting over its control (cover story, September 2013). That’s not preventing Charlotte leaders from preparing for sunnier times. In November, the city unveiled plans that could make the airport one of the largest sites of solar-power generation in the state. A private developer would lease parts of the airport from the city and build solar arrays at designated sites, such as between runways and on rooftops and canopies constructed over parking lots. Robert Phocas, the city’s Energy and Sustainability Manager, told the Charlotte Observer that the airport might use some of the power, but most of it will be sold to Queen City-based Duke Energy Corp. Charlotte, which would have an option to buy the farm on the sixth, 10th and 15th anniversaries of the lease agreement, has outlined as many as eight sites that could be developed for a maximum output of 53 megawatts — equal to nearly 20% of North Carolina’s installed capacity as of 2012, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Briefs

MOORESVILLE — Weber Screwdriving Systems will move manufacturing operations here from Yorktown Heights, N.Y., creating 38 jobs and investing $2.3 million over three years. Average annual wage for the jobs will be $82,897, almost double Iredell County’s average of $41,964. KANNAPOLIS — DataChambers broke ground on a 50,000-square-foot data center at North Carolina Research Campus to serve businesses in the region. Construction will be completed by midyear, and the company will hire 20 to 30 workers. The information-technology company also operates data centers in Raleigh at its headquarters in Winston-Salem.

LINCOLNTON — Actavis will close its plant here, idling 310 workers by mid-2015, as a result of its $5 billion acquisition of Dublin-based pharmaceutical company Warner Chilcott in October. Actavis, which moved its headquarters to Dublin from Parsippany, N.J., makes prescription creams and ointments and over-the-counter medications.

CHARLOTTE — Bank of America will pay Freddie Mac $404 million to resolve all outstanding requests to buy back defective mortgages that it sold Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac between Jan. 1, 2000, and Dec. 31, 2009. The payments will be covered by existing reserves.